Hugh Powell
Fervor and Fiction: Therese von Bacheracht and Her Works
Columbia, SC: Camden House, 1996. Pp. 143. US $54.95
Reviewed by Marianne Henn
This well-structured monograph tries to recover the life and works of another of the long-neglected women writers of the first part of the nineteenth century, Therese von Bacheracht (1804-1852). It provides a very useful and insightful introduction to Bacheracht by concentrating on important aspects of her life as indicated in the titles of chapters such as “The Woman,” “The Voyager,” “The Witness,” and “The Fiction.” Since Bacheracht lived during a turbulent period in German history and was a keen observer of people, events, and issues, we are also provided with an insight into the political, social, economic, and cultural life of the time.
In his account of Bacheracht’s life, Powell is able to convey a sense of this intelligent, discerning, and charming woman. Bacheracht was the daughter and the wife of diplomats, and her father encouraged her in her intellectual curiosity. She was well-versed not only in the contemporary German literary and cultural scene but also in the broader European one and was acquainted with many well-known and influential figures of the literary, cultural, and political elite. However, despite her personal acquaintance with literary giants such as Goethe, Bacheracht did not succumb to idolization. She helped Gutzkow and advanced his career by introducing him to influential people in her societal circle. During their seven-year liaison they collaborated and discussed each other’s work, but Gutzkow never openly acknowledged their partnership. She also knew, and was familiar with the work of, German women writers such as Fanny Lewald, Rahel Varnhagen, Bettina von Arnim, and Ida von Hahn-Hahn. She was interested in technological developments and eclectic fields, including Lavater’s physiognomy. Although Bacheracht was not a political activist, she was opposed to the constraints under which women were put. Like many of her contemporaries, she entered into a marriage of convenience, and it is therefore not surprising that the institution of marriage figures prominently in her novels, novellas, and short stories.
As Powell demonstrates, Bacheracht proves to be most perceptive in her travel literature. She travelled more extensively than probably any woman of her time: Switzerland, Italy, Malta, Turkey, Russia, and also Indonesia, where she died in 1852. Her records of these travels are interspersed with personal experiences and thoughts on a variety of cultural, social, political, religious, and literary subjects. Powell shows Bacheracht to be an individual who was aware of the rise of technology and the impact of the machine as well as mass production. Recognizing their effects on the human condition, she discusses inequities, injustices, abuses, and the need for social and political reform in her travel books.
Bacheracht’s works, including her travel books, all appeared in the 1840s. In the chapter on her fiction, which is the weakest and least imaginative in the book, Powell provides a survey of her short stories, including “Jugend,” “Ein Stilleben,” “Sigismund,” “Interlaken,” and her novels Falkenberg (1843), Lydia (1844), Weltglück: Aus Cäciliens Papieren (1845), Heinrich Burkart (1846), and Alma (1848). Powell starts with a short plot summary for each work and then discusses the major themes: topics such as marriage, friendship, and love are touched upon with observations on human achievement, and society and its institutions. The discussion of her works also includes a short overview of the reception by critics who dismissed Bacheracht’s writings as “popular” or “trivial” (5).
The book is very well researched and includes material uncovered by Powell at archives in Hamburg. Examples of two letters by Bacheracht from Java and Fanny Lewald’s letter to Gutzkow as well as other documents are reproduced as appendices. The bibliography is quite extensive and most helpful, and so is the index. This study, written in a lucid and readable style, is of interest to anyone dealing with women writers and their cultural and literary worlds.